The meeting of Central Majlis-e-Shoora, Jama’at-e-Islami, Pakistan, expresses grief and anxiety over the Pakistani rulers’ detached attitude towards education during the last 50 years. The general unconcern towards this one of the most crucial and basic field of national development has caused our country to suffer. Today, there is anarchy on the ideological front; we lack in national cohesion and pursue materialism blindly.

The present education system has failed to disclose before the new generation the founding reasons of Pakistan. The disastrous results of this negligence are now evident in every walk of life. The responsibility for this deterioration lies with influential factions besides those in power. The most alarming aspect besides ideological confusion and moral degradation is the falling standard of education. Due to constant decay Pakistani educational document are now no more acceptable abroad. To top all is the class distinction in education. Because of this, Pakistani nation is most discreetly broken down into an upper English medium and a lower Urdu medium class. Engaged in musical chair of power, our politicians are oblivious of this feat of national massacre. Rather they are protectors of high class system of education, which no doubt is synonymous with national suicide and treason against Islamic principles.

This meeting appeals to those at the helm of affairs, the powerful factions, the elite and to the discerning people, that they accord top priority to revamping Pakistan’s education system. The reformed system should incorporate Islamic ideology and the new generations should be educated in consonance with national demeanor. This shall enable them, on the one hand, to work for national build up and development and, on the other, to engage in technical and scientific research and thus to stand upright among the comity of nations.

This meeting foretells that the Pakistan’s educational system has scaled disastrous magnitude and shall be alarming when it become a security risk to existence of Pakistan. In this era of the most swift developments in science and technology, very few of our people are fortunate to get education. Once graduated, they lack in self-reliance and skills. The Majlis-e-Shoora demands the following education system reforms:

• Uniform Educational System: For spreading Islamic ideology, creating sectarian cohesion and teaching regional and social parity, a uniform syllabus, system of examination and medium of instructions should be enforced in all educational institutions.
• National Character Formation: In accordance with the Constitution, Urdu should be made the state language. Status and role of regional languages should be maintained in consonance with the prevalent objective conditions. This should be done with the view to promote national identity, to better develop regional languages and for healthy growth of the provincial languages in keeping with the particular educational needs of the province. Concrete steps should be taken to lessen role of English as an official language. English should not be the medium of instruction yet course should be adopted for its teaching as a foreign language.
• Institutionalizing Education: Urgent measures should be taken to improve the deplorable conditions of the state owned educational institutions. Effective education policy should be decided in consultation with judiciary, teachers, education experts, peoples’ representatives and students’ representatives. Further, no political intervention should be allowed in implementation of this policy.
• Minimizing Educational Abuse: Exploitation by private educational institutions in the name of education should be regulated justly through legislation. These institutions should be made to boost standardized education on the one hand and on the other, to embrace all classes of society on basis of merit.
• Restricting Educational Aid: The existing procedures and practices in utilizing foreign assistance in education should be rectified. National objectives and interests must be fully protected. National educational needs must be fulfilled out of national resources while the foreign assistance should be restricted to science, medicine, modern technology and agriculture.
• Waqf: Traditional Islamic concept of waqf institutions should be restored and activated so that private educational institutions may attain national status rather than becoming family enterprises.
• Funds: Education budgets should be prepared in the centre and provinces independent of the annual financial budgets. During the next few years education budget should be increased to 5 per cent of the GNP.
• Women University: Every province should have a women university of its own and arrangements be made at every level to meet the educational, economic and social needs of women.
• Missionaries Activities: Educational activities of Christian missionaries should be monitored in the international scenario so that these institutions do not become agencies for the protection of interests and achievement of the political ends of foreign imperialistic powers. These should neither be nationalized nor given free hand.
• Students’ Unions: Elected unions of boys and girls in government and private educational institutions should be revived in the interest of healthy and purposeful activities.
• Religious Education: Gross resourcelessness, indifference and negligence with which the educational system of Deeni Madaris suffer need attention. A national policy should be framed by taking into confidence the Ulema. Efforts should be made to root out the secular thinking based on the segregation of state from religion.

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This resolution was passed in the Central Majlis-e-Shoora, Jama’at-e-Islami, Pakistan, on Dec. 22, 1997.